Fergana Regional Museum of Local Lore

History

The museum was founded in 1894, during a trade exhibition held in New Margelan, today's Fergana. In 1895 the region's military governor set aside two rooms in his administration building to store historical objects, the statutes were approved in 1897, and on 26 May 1899 the 'Fergana Oblast People's Museum' opened with 2,223 objects and books. It closed in 1911 and reopened in 1920 as the Fergana City Scientific Museum.

It has been the regional museum of local lore since 1938, by which time its holdings exceeded 15,000 items. Excavations led by museum staff N. G. Gorbunova and B. Z. Gamburg in 1951–1960 added nearly 5,000 archaeological objects. Until 1984 the museum occupied a building on the former Konstantinovskaya Street; in 1985 it moved into a purpose-built home.

What to see

The displays cover the Fergana Valley's natural history, its archaeology from the Stone Age onwards, the Kokand Khanate and the Russian period, ethnography and applied art, including work by Rishtan potters. After independence the museum played an active part in the anniversaries of Ahmad al-Farghani and Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani. Labels are mostly in Uzbek and Russian, so a guide is worthwhile.